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Ask A Beta Tester: Questions I wish we'd been asked
Here at WoW Insider sometimes we go a little nuts around big news events due to sleep deprivation or sensory overload in conjunction with large hits of caffeine. When that happens while we are writing "Ask A Beta Tester," occasionally we ask ourselves questions ("Why am I not in bed?") that we later realize might actually be useful.As Wrath of the Lich King's release date creeps up and the beta becomes more and more deserted (seriously: Dalaran is a ghost town these days, not that my computer's wheezing hardware doesn't appreciate it), I find myself turning to a few topics that readers generally never asked about, but wound up being game-defining experiences in the beta. By necessity, most of them are a little more general -- overall impressions, things you wouldn't necessarily think to ask about unless you were a fresh arrival in Northrend and noticed the differences -- but I've included a few specific things that I hope people will find interesting. Unlike --Why are you not in bed?What makes you think I'm not?
Ask a Lore Nerd: The Eye of the Tiger and the Warglaives of Azzinoth
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.Last week on Ask a Lore Nerd, Offsprnge (one of your fellow readers) asked me to write this week's edition with some Eye of the Tiger playing. I guess I came across a little tired last week, so I'm going to do just that. To fit the groove, I ask all of you guys one favor: Read the questions and answers in the voice of Rocky Balboa. If it will help you get in the mood, go ahead and read it out loud in that voice.And since we're already talking about it, Offsprnge asked... Right, I think I got a good one by the way, perhaps it is so obvious I should slap myself, but the whole battle for Mount Hyjal features the Burning Legion invading with it's commander Archimonde, however, why are there hordes of ghouls, liches, necromancers, frost wyrms and "all that kind of thing!" (find the reference). Again, like another reader mentioned, at the time the Lich King was still feigning allegiance to the Burning Legion. It doesn't pay to make the Legion suspicious too early. At the same time, the Lich King played a role in weakening Archimonde's forces: He used Illidan to destroy Tichondrius and his forces, which were to play support for Archimonde. The Scourge that were at the Battle of Mount Hyjal were sacrifices, pawns to keep Archimonde overconfident.
Gametrailers.com's Warcraft Retrospective continues
The second part of Gametrailers.com's Warcraft Retrospective has gone up, and it's no less fun and informative than the first. Picking up right where it left off, the second part starts with Warcraft III, following the ascension of some of the most well known Blizzard employees such as Rob Pardo, Chris Metzen, and Samwise Didier, not to mention the company and Warcraft series as a whole.This edition of the series focuses a lot more on one specific game than the first edition, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. Warcraft III changed a lot about the RTS genre and whether that's a good thing or not is up to the individual. It changed how you managed your units, your base, and your resources, making units more important than just canon fodder. That was especially true when it came to the hero units that now highlight World of Warcraft. This retrospective also goes into the infamous DOTA before it steps up to The Frozen Throne, so if you've no idea what that crazy Europop video is all about, you'll find out!
The plural of "necropolis"
With the Scourge invasion in full swing, there are a lot of large, pyramidal structures hovering around Azeroth answering to the name of "necropolis." This has led to a certain amount of discussion in game and around the WoW Insider bullpen, as well as on the WoW Ladies community, on the topic of what you call more than one of them. Naturally, I had to go look it up.And the answer is: necropoleis or necropoles. The first form comes from Greek, where the word originated (literal meaning: city of the dead), and is pronounced as if it were spelled "-ase." The second form comes to us through Latin (as most of our Greek-derived words do), and is traditionally pronounced by English speakers as if it were spelled "-ese" (although in Latin it would have been pronounced as "-ase" again). Necropolises is also perfectly acceptable as an English-native pluralization, so don't be too hard on your fellow adventurers who just want directions to the darn things.There are a number of words that are not a reasonable plural of "necropolis." Foremost among them is "necropoli," which arises by mistaken analogy to words like "cactus." Although the -is ending in "necropolis" is pronounced more or less the same (depending on your dialect of English) as the -us ending in "cactus," it does not come from the same category of Latin words (third declension as opposed to second, if I'm not mistaken), and thus does not pluralize the same way. Just say no to "necropoli" -- kill that urge and fight the Scourge.Edit: Yes, I know that languages evolve, and that M-W likes "necropoli." I still don't like it, though, mostly because it's based on a bad analogy. Now get off my lawn, you crazy kids!
FOX news covers WoW's Zombie Invasion
FOX news picked up the story of the big zombie invasion, citing that the plague came to an end on Tuesday. They covered the event as a deliberate contagion that, if left "untreated," would turn you into one of the "flesh-eating zombies." Like our own Mike Schramm, FOX parallels this purposeful in-game disease with the previous accidental "Corrupted Blood" plague. I love it when WoW is in the news. I love it even more when the media's not talking about us being game-addicted fiends smashing the buttons for our Pavlovian treat. While FOX's story isn't exactly ground-breaking info for those of us toiling against the continuing Scourge invasion, it might reach a few of our friends and coworkers and convince them to give WoW a try. Or, this coverage could just be another sign of the impact Blizzard's game is having on the mainstream, while that 11 million subscriber base just keeps growing. And, yup, FOX's article does mention the upcoming Wrath release, so it's certainly possible Blizzard will see a few more players from the coverage. Every time WoW has an event like this which has mainstream interest, there'll be a few more people logging for the first time to see what the buzz is about. And, hey, it certainly lines up with the Holiday theme.
Anti-Aliased: Killing the auctioneers is a perfect reason to go to Northrend
Going to Northrend has always been something that bugged me. It's a land that's literally a boat trip away, and no one's set foot on it or even mentioned it since Arthas went bonkers and started living up there. Even the groups that should have been concerned about it, like the Argent Dawn or the Knights of the Silver Hand, didn't really go out of their way to even give thought to the icy land to the north. No, no, we were more concerned with running through a giant portal just so we could bonk Kil'jaeden on the head and make Illidan whine more about how life doesn't work out for him.So my thoughts were as follows: "What could Arthas possibly do to make everyone simultaneously angry and want to journey to Northrend?"I don't know why I never thought of the answer before. What could be possibly more annoying than giving the power to grief the NPCs to the lowlifes of World of Warcraft? Arthas, you cunning, cunning man.
Anti-Aliased: Killing the auctioneers is a perfect reason to go to Northrend pt. 2
But, while some players used the event as a way to grief others, other players began to take a stand against it. Heroes pulled out their swords, turned on their sense undead, and began vigils in the cities to keep them functioning the way they should. By doing something as simple as "playing along" with the event, the cities could be kept in their standard working order, letting business be conducted as usual.When players didn't work together -- when they were more concerned with complaining about how bad the event was and how they couldn't do anything -- the result was catastrophic. I dropped by Stormwind one night to find all of the NPCs dead, bodies literally covering the streets, and only about 4 Alliance players attempting to make a stand against 30+ zombified players. The bankers were turned, the auctioneers were turned, the guards were even turned. Stormwind had literally fallen to the plague. The Argent Healers had retreated, and now no one was left in the town square but me and my horseman's sword.So my guild was sick of it, and they didn't want to see it happen anymore. We all got together in Elwynn Forest, made a 35 man raid group (which ended up becoming 55 once more people heard what we were going to do.) Our guild mistress made a bold speech, everyone cheered, and then we mounted up and rode straight into Stormwind. With arrows flying and exorcises filling the air, we took back the city, posted priests and paladins to keep watch for the infected ones, and turned the Cathedral of Light into a refuge shelter for lowbies who needed aid and assistance.Many in the Alliance kept up what we had started by particpating in a new channel called the ArgentDefense, and Stormwind began to function again. Complaints about how "no one could do anything" began to dwindle, because people had stood up and done something. Griefers got tired of griefing because they would either get killed much too quickly or find themselves being cleansed of the plague before they could turn by groups of priests. Even roleplaying, which was amazingly sparse on my RPPvP server, was more popular as people openly roleplayed the defense of the city streets. Amazingly enough, there was a way out of this "bad game design" by, gasp, embracing it. "Most importantly though, people have an amazing experience to share with others, even those who may not play the game." If this event was something you could "opt-out" of, or avoid, I don't think it would have anywhere near the same impact. Stories, like this one above, wouldn't have occured at all. Instead, people would have just looted their loot, sold what they wanted, and gone on with the constant improvement of themselves. This event would have gone mostly unnoticed, perhaps applauded by a few people, but it would have found itself forgotten in the history books of WoW lore freaks.Now people have a reason to really hate Arthas and the scourge. People have a reason to journey to Northrend and deliver the fight to the doorstep of Icecrown Glacier. Most importantly though, people have an amazing experience to share with others, even those who may not play the game. All because a few people stood up for themselves and did something to fight back when everyone else said "it was impossible to do anything." Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who likes to fight against impossible odds. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's over running Epic Loot For All! with his insane roommates. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com.
The Undead Plague ends today
We have good news and bad news. The good news is, if you hated dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. The bad news is, if you loved dealing with zombies and the plague, it's going away in just a few hours. Tigole confirmed it in a thread on the General forums, and also mentions that this isn't all that they have planned for the pre-Wrath umm... festivities, I guess?He doesn't go into specifics about what will be happening next, but the plague is going away. The special bosses and the necropoli wil be around for awhile yet, a week for the former, a few days for the latter, but the zombies will be no more as of noon PST. Tigole also assures us that this had nothing to do with the whining. This part of the story had simply run its course. We have no idea what's next, but whatever it is, I can't wait to see it.
The bosses of the Scourge Invasion
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/The_bosses_of_the_Scourge_Invasion'; In the chaos of the plague and looming ziggurats, a portion of the overall invasion has been overlooked. Tenris Mirkblood of Karazhan isn't the only limited edition boss during this invasion, and not all of the content is exclusively for top level players. There are unique bosses with unique loot for players of all levels, starting from your early 20s right on to level 70. Whether you're leveling your first character or you're leveling you umpteenth alt, the Scourge Invasion has something for you to do. You get to do it away from all of the chaos, too. Round up some appropriately leveled friends and fill out a group to tackle these bosses, or find a kind-hearted level 70 looking for something to do, and knock these guys out! Behind the link below you'll find a list of each of the bosses, as well as a quick guide for each one of them.
Phase 4 of the Zombie invasion begins! [UPDATED x8]
The zombie invasion has hit phase four. We can see that the scourge are full out attacking cities now, and the plague debuff will now turn you into a Zombie after a short period of 2 minutes. There are necropolis appearing all over Azeroth.Argent Dawn representatives are being spotted around capital cities. The new raid boss in Karazhan, Tenris Mirkblood, is now active and dropping one Arcanite Ripper (a 2H axe), a Vampiric Batling for each raid member, and two badges for each raid member. You can get to him by going through Attuneman, clearing him, and then moving up the stairs behind his room. We've got a strategy guide up now with details on how to defeat himYou can see the location of the necropolises on the world map - they are indicated by little purple skull icons.A Haunted Momento has been confirmed to drop from rare spawns around the necropolises- it's a leather ball type item that you throw to someone. Whoever has the momento gets to have a wraith follow you around! Pics after the break and in our gallery.Big Update: Click the Arcanite Ripper and play it like a guitar!Late night updates: There are Argent Dawn healers appearing at most flight paths (if not all) around the game. They are making is so the flight path NPC does not become a zombie anymore. We have a semi-confirmation of the Lurch buff increasing in speed to 125%. But we also have conflicting reports.Continue reading after the break for the latest information. %Gallery-35353% Zombies have entered the World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King world event! Check out our tips for eating brains, our zombie night gallery, or see Blizzard's official zombie infestation guide. They live! Braaiiiiinnnssss!
Roleplaying your zombie apocalypse
Step one is to become a zombie. Step two, rampage around a lowbie zone. Step three, scream "Braiiinnnns!" for everyone to hear. Step four, wait for an immersive roleplayer named "Pwnsurface" to kill you, in accordance to his Retribution Paladin's most tightly held beliefs. Okay, there's a little more to roleplaying the event than that. It's tempting to launch yourself at the suspicious crates and transform into a brain-hungry beast. But to borrow a quote from a roleplayer on Shadow Council, if you're going to do that, chances are that what you're really doing is "taking an OOC day." Most characters in the Alliance and Horde aren't yearning to find themselves transformed into an instinct-driven cranium muncher. Zombies are not only evil, they're members of the Scourge, out to destroy all life as we know it. They also have fairly bad personal hygiene. (Okay, so maybe they're not that much different from the Forsaken.) But to us players, Zombies are cool. You get to do stuff, and attack people, and explode, and convert people into zombies, and it rocks! And while your character might find itself outta bubblegum, and decide to start kicking butt instead, you-the-player might feel bad for ruining someone else's good time. Still, there is roleplay to be had here!
Breakfast Topic: Braiiins for breakfast?
If you've paid any attention to the goings-on in the World of Warcraft lately, you probably know that Arthas has already made his first move and sent crates of a conspicuous nature to some very public places in Azeroth. They're not exactly gift packages, either, as clicking on these crates will infect you with a ghoulish disease. There've been reports of zombies attacking towns, feasting on the innocents, and turning entire populations into the Lich King's servants.Have you unwittingly (or wittingly!) gotten infected? Have you had the disease run its course and turn you into one of the malevolent Scourge? Are you one of the remaining bastions of the Light, cleansing all who may be infected and smiting those who have been transformed? How are handling this world event that's preparing us for Wrath of the Lich King?
Ask a Beta Tester: Leveling, the Taunka, and mounts
All of us here at WoW Insider are staggering around somewhat zombie-like in the wake of BlizzCon with the patch (probably) coming tomorrow and the amount of information we're hoping to get out in the next 24 hours. So in all truth I don't know whether the answers to today's questions are completely factual or just stuff that started swimming in front of my eyes at 1:00 this morning. Arthas is actually a girl underneath all that armor, just like Samus Aran. The zone music to Icecrown is "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. The Hateful Gladiator cloth belt is a pink tutu. Flying bunnies will be available in the next expan-(Sound of a short scuffle in the background, followed by a whip crack)Thank you, Dan, a little perspective is always useful in these difficult times.Jason asks...Will Northrend be accessible at 68 like Outland was accessible at 58? Or do I need to be a solid 70 to quest and instance in Northrend?Technically, Northrend will be accessible to anyone with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion installed; you can hop a boat or zeppelin on any character of any level. There's no "You must be THIS HIGH to cross through the portal to Outland" restriction, but you won't be able to pick up any of the quests available in Northrend until level 68. Could you grind your way to 68 in Northrend from the mid-60's? Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be Forsaken
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the ninth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself.There are those who like to buy Hello Kitty paraphernalia, decorate their bedroom with stuffed animals, or perhaps just smile at anyone they pass on the street. The Forsaken would eat those people for breakfast.I see, dear readers, that I have caused some of you to recoil in horror at the very thought of such depravity. But to the Forsaken it is not uncommon to view other people as potential lunch -- the reason being that the Forsaken are not really "people" as such. They used to be people, they remember being people, and yet now they are not. Their bodies are decayed and some of their flesh is missing -- and yet they are doomed to walk this world under the curse of undeath, animated by evil magic rather than natural life energy, denied all those things that living people enjoy.Consider for a moment the pleasures of the flesh: the rich taste of food in your mouth, the soft touch of the breeze in your hair, or the embrace of your dearest loved one. Consider also the feeling in your body when you rise to heights of anger or fear, joy or sadness. Now imagine if all those were taken away -- you may still eat, but your meals no longer taste good or bad; the breeze simply disturbs the stiff remains of hair on your head; and the embrace of your loved one would feel like the touch of wax upon wax, if anyone could love you enough to touch you anymore. You don't even feel that love in your heart anymore -- no feeling, no matter how passionate, can make it beat even once more. The feelings you used to live with every day are merely ideas now, reminders of a time when you lived in the body that now traps you in its cold and dark materials.If you were thus afflicted, could you maintain any sense of compassion?
Breakfast Topic: Resurrecting old events
The upcoming patch 3.02 looks like it has a formal name now -- "Echoes of Doom," according to the EU site -- and players have wondered for a while whether Blizzard is going to bring back the Scourge Invasion event. This was an event that went live with the introduction of the original 40-man Naxxramas in patch 1.11 and saw Scourge troops appear all over Azeroth and even within major cities. It was one of Blizzard's early experiments programming world content that could be directly affected by players (in a roundabout way you can trace the underlying philosophy behind phasing to the success of events like these), and was a huge hit that's left players inquiring on the likelihood of its reappearance ever since.As a player who started after Burning Crusade launched, I have to admit I would love the chance to see this, if for no other reason than having a shot at getting my main the rather good-looking Tabard of the Argent Dawn. But, cool tabard or not, the event is pretty thematically consistent with the content being released in Wrath of the Lich King, and the 3.02 patch is expressly meant to transition players into the expansion as seamlessly as possible. You could argue that Blizzard's never going to get a more opportune or relevant time to marshal the undead NPC's, but you could counter by pointing out that redeploying content originally meant to be a unique event diminishes its impact a tad. If it were re-programmed with additional exapansion-related content? Maybe, although I get the feeling the developers may be somewhat occupied at the moment. Either way, is there any obligation on Blizzard's part to try to re-run old content for the benefit of newer players?
Ask a Lore Nerd: Cenarius, C'Thun, and the Titans
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. Last week on Ask a Lore Nerd, I answered a question about sports. In short, does Azeroth have sports? I, foolishly, looked at it in a pretty narrow way. I was thinking baseball, basketball, things like that. However, it was quickly pointed out that not all sports are things like those. That's very true! Azeroth definitely has things like hunting, racing, fishing and the arena circuit. There's also a reference to Battle Ball but who knows what that is. So there's that! And with that out of the way...XvampyrexrisingX asked...My friend and I have been arguing recently over the death of the demigod Cenarius. I was hoping for some clarification. I (a diehard Nelf) say that Cenarius was only protecting the forest the orcs were cutting, while she (a Nelf turned Hordie) says that Cenarius attacked the Orcs for no reason and their only choice was to kill him. Which one of us gets the bragging rights?
WoW Moviewatch: Lingering Memory
Hey there, I'm the new WoW Moviewatch blogger since Moo unfortunately had to leave our hallowed halls. My first pick is a new film by Count Vrenna called Lingering Memory. The story follows a young Paladin's conflict with The Scourge at Caer Darrow. It's told without dialog or voiceover, with just a few titles by way of setup and some emotional music to carry the mood. Count Vrenna asserts that this is his first time filming large battle scenes, but I wouldn't have guessed if he hadn't told me. The last scene showing rows of Death Knights -- including one of the Naaru, just like we find in Ebon Hold -- is chilling in its inevitability. Another scene I liked is where the hero confronts her fate and memories of her life flash before her eyes. It reminds me somewhat of Here Without You but without the love story. I've never quite gotten the hang of role playing but all these RP guilds making such cool recruitment videos sure make the idea tempting to try.[Via WarcraftMovies.]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Ask a Lore Nerd: Your curiosity will be the death of you
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.This edition of Ask a Lore Nerd is very heavy on the Scourge and various other Wrath-related questions. Love it or hate it, that's what we've got this week. I tried to dance around spoilers where possible this week, but starting next week the spoilers are gonna come rollin' in. There will be warnings, of course, but they'll be there. Just sayin'. Meethan asked...What are Liches raised from? When encountered, Liches have sorceror and somewhat necromatic powers. Can they be raised from anyone or must it be a mage? Would you consider Kel'thuzad to be "Lord of the Lich"?As far as Kel'thuzad goes, I believe the title that was given to him is "Archlich." Almost all liches were raised from necromancers, warlocks and mages, though the Lich King pretty much does whatever the hell he wants and can raise other people as a lich if he really wants to do that. That's probably rare, because turning someone that isn't skilled at spellcasting into a being that is built for spellcasting would just be silly. The Burning Legion used to employ a lot of liches as well, but they lost most of them when the Scourge betrayed them.
Naxxramas gone from Plaguelands in 3.0.2
You've already heard that the Amani War Bear is disappearing from the live servers ahead of schedule in 3.0, but here's one more thing for you to hurry up on: 40-man Naxxramas. As of now on the 3.0 PTR, Naxxramas is gone from Eastern Plaguelands. The whole of the Eastern Plaguelands has already changed, in fact. When you open your map, you can already see Archerus looming ominously over Light's Hope chapel and the remains of the Scarlet Crusade's holdings in Eastern Plaguelands. As a result, the entire map has shifted, but I still combed the Plaguewoods looking for the entrance to Naxxramas. Due to the map shifting, the old locations for Naxxramas are rather off. At the original location coordinates for Naxxramas stands one of the old ruined villages that dot the area. The area where Naxxramas used to be relative to that Scourge ziggurat on the map is now marked by a plague cauldron. Regardless, It looks like the entrance is gone. Come 3.0, it looks like Naxxramas will have retreated to Northrend, and we'll have to bide our time before we can follow it. So if you've been waiting on getting those last few splinters, or you've been thinking about picking up a Corrupted Ashbringer or what have you, you'd better get on it fast. When the 3.0 leaves the PTR and goes to live servers, 40-man Naxxramas will be gone indefinitely.
Ask a Beta Tester: Of Northrend and Nesingwary
Today we're going on safari with a question from t_d, who asked.... Do we get to see Hemet Nesingwary do some big game hunting in Northrend and if so, who did he leave in charge of the Nagrand Expedition? Where there's new adventures to be had -- and new beasts to hunt -- you will find Hemet Nesingwary, struggling to rid the world of dangerous creatures everywhere. Though on the beta realms, his camp in Nagrand still contains Hemet himself, we're guessing that when Wrath goes live they'll replace him with a stand-in, similar to what they did when he came to Nagrand from Stranglethorn Vale. For more on on Hemet Nesingwary -- and other questions -- read on! But if you're the sort who wants to avoid spoilers, turn back now. We're aiming to avoid major story spoilers, but this feature is all about beta content and we can't talk about the beta without giving a few things away.
